Aiming High
by Chifle
Summary: Nakahara Takumi is your average middle schooler but with a goal who makes him different from others. He aims to become what he most admires, a hero. He knows the road will be full of harships, but he is not the kind of person to give up easily on his dreams. [OC x ?] I've yet to decide on a pairing but there will be romance
1. Chapter 1

I think that, if I had to tell the story about my life, this would probably be a good place to start or at least start an important part of the story because I am about to face one of the most important challenges of my life, the practical exam for the entrance to the Yuuei Academy.

My name is Nakahara Takumi and I am currently a student aiming to enter U.A Highschool. Like many people out there I am not the most interesting person you can find, but I like to make myself known as someone persistent and that has things clear in life having said that I do not like to be taken as a serious person, I consider myself someone with a good sense of humor.

There is not a tragic background story behind my intentions to be a hero, only a promise that I made to someone a long time ago and I have planned to fulfill it whatever the cost, If someone want to be a hero, and a very good one then there is no better place to learn than U.A.

Here I am at the entrance of U.A, I have to admit that it is an interesting building, the "H" shape it has is quite charming I must say, but above all it is impressive and even more with all the applicants entering the main building, you can see how they come from different schools all over Japan, like me, not just Tokyo.

"Alright Takumi, the day has come, don't do anything stupid and everything will be just fine" — I told myself to try to hide my nerves. I doubt I am the only one with this feeling, you could see people sweating from the sole fact of entering U.A, can't say I blame them, I am just like them.

I started walking towards the main building where I later found myself in an auditorium where they were going to give a talk explaining the exam guidelines. As soon as I got there I went for my seat, I had one indicated for me in the letter they gave me, apparently students from the same school next to each other, but I don't think I'll find someone from my school here it would be odd since my school is quite far from Tokyo, really far.

In the meantime, I got a message from my mom — _"Takumi, we wish you the best of luck in the exam, we know you can do it."_ I smiled a little when reading the message, my family always supported me, I should not disappoint them after everything they did for me. I was about to answer back but I couldn't think of anyway to say so I just decided to stay focus on the test to come.

After a few minutes a professor appeared, he was in charge of explaining everything about the practical exam. The surprising thing was that the professor was none other than Present Mic, although he did not seem to animate the audience much with his speech. In view of the silent response of the public, he went straight to the point: The exam will be held in a replica of a city, there will be "villains" hanging around the city and we must "take care" of them, there are 3 types of villains and each was worth points different between 1 and 3 according to their difficulty and it was also forbidden to attack other participants. The villains were some type of robots, designed by them or so he told us, and they shouldn't present much of a threat to our safety.

 _"It seems very basic, I guess with the right preparations I can adapt my quirk for the exam."_ — I though while reading the pamphlet they gave us about the exam.

As soon as Present Mic finished, someone raised his hand. "Excuse me, can I ask a question? The booklet states that there are four types of villains"— that caused look at the pamphlet again, because I don't remember reading that — _"Oh shit he is right, it was in the next page"_. He continued "These kinds of mistakes are unacceptable for a top-notch academy like U.A! We are here because we want to follow the path of model heroes! Besides, you, the curly haired boy! Can't you calm down for a moment? You are distracting me and the other participants, if you can't take the trouble to take this seriously then leave" He said it with a voice tone that echoed throughout the room. I looked at that poor dude who got called out, and well he was shivering, I guess the nerves are getting to him really bad. Can't say I'm surprised, all kinds of people come to give this test, and of course they are gonna be exaggeratedly serious, I am one of them, but I wouldn't embarrass anyone like that.

"Okay thanks for reminding me! The fourth type of villain you will find is worth zero points. That villain is just an obstacle that we will throw to you to make the exam more interesting and will only appear when there is a crowd, you'll recognize it when you see it."

"Thank you very much! I apologize for the interruption!" The boy said aloud as he bowed and then sat down.

I do not know how useful it was to find out about the fourth type of villain since we don't know what it looks like and destroying it does not give us points, maybe I will find out when I see one or destroy it by chance, whatever the case, I don't care much about it, I gotta focus on getting points.

"Well that's all from me! I'll leave my listeners with our school motto. PLUS ULTRA! Break a leg everyone!"

And with that the introductory presentation of the practical exam is over. I took out the card in pocket which had my location for the test indicated, apparently, I got test location E. I got up and exhaled deeply. " All right, time to do this."

It took me about 10 minutes to change into an appropriate outfit for the exam and reach my respective Testing location. Once there I took the trouble to subtly review the other participants, it seems that most are male, but still you notice the large number of girls. These are some of my rivals and maybe possible classmates, I know it is not the best time to observe their skills and get to know them, but I could not help but wonder what kind of quirks they had and how much they have trained to get here. I began to observe some of them carefully, for example, there was a boy who had completely black skin but white hair, then I saw a girl who seemed to have some sort of plugs that hanged from her earlobes, also another person with a transformation individuality that seemed a minotaur. After checking out some of them I could tell just by looking how some of their quirks might work, but for others It is simply impossible to know, especially if they don't have any physical trait that reveals their quirk, I suppose I fall into that category as well since I look like a normal person till I activate it.

It took a long time to master my quirk at a level where I am able use it agilely in combat without causing mayor problems to my body. Most of the times, when someone asks about my quirk is hard for me to explain since I am not very good at it and it causes misunderstandings of how it works so I rather show them instead.  
I can modify my body, that doesn't mean creating new limbs or new eyes, maybe the word modify is not the right one, control might be a better word to explain it. I can increase the volume of my muscles, improve my vision, heal my wounds and much more, the only thing I need for it is that there is oxygen around my body so that means I can use my individuality without problems almost anywhere. Obviously, it has its limitations, any change that I apply to my body is not permanent, even if I heal a broken bone this will be temporary, also using it constantly and makes my limbs feel heavy and my vision is lost little by little. In order to make changes to my body at my whim I had to learn the anatomy of the human body from head to toe, and to know what roles all parts of the body fulfill. It was a very hard learning process, but I went with it and this test will tell me if the efforts of these years paid off.

Having finished my stretches I approached the giant door that would open at the beginning of the exam. It would be nice to have some kind of clock that indicates how much time is left so I could modify my body in advance since it takes me a few seconds to do it, and I must take as much advantage of time as I can, and I am pretty sure this goes for everyone since quirks put some kind of strain in the body when used for long periods of time.

" _I guess It's just a matter of wai…"_

"And begin…"

As soon as I heard that my face changed to a confused one. What was that exactly? Was that the signal to start? I was not the only one like that, everyone had more or less the same and thoughts.

"What wrong? Are you waiting for a countdown? The test has started! Run! Run!"

"Damn it!" I yelled as I entered as fast as I could to the test location.

Many people had entered before me and had not yet modified my body, I decided to make myself faster instead of using brute force first since I did not see any enemies nearby and needed to cover more ground, so I modified my muscles to make me even more fast than what I normally am.

They were not joking when they said that the test area was a replica of a city, this place is huge and looks too real, I wonder if they will have someone with a quirk capable of creating such places but now is the time to think about this.

It did not take me long to find one of the villains, it was a robot larger than a human being maybe 3 or 4 times bigger and he was heading towards me.  
Excellent.

Modify my right arm with enough power to destroy it in one hit and then I aimed to what looked like the abdomen.

"This is only the first of many!" I shouted as I blew it to pieces. My fist went right through it but it hurt a little, well it is to be expected I am punching metal after all.

That felt better than I thought, but it's not enough, I must go for more. Seeing the number that was engraved on his arm I saw that it was only worth 2 points. I have to keep moving.

After dealing that blow I change my arm back to normal and kept running. Whenever I crossed some robots while running I destroyed them as swiftly accurately as possible so that I didn't take too much time. I remember we had a time limit of 10 minutes, I was starting to regret not having a stopwatch with me. Even after running for a while I couldn't find many villains and I was starting to get worried.

I turned in a corner where I reached what looked like an avenue and there were still several villains, but they were being destroyed easily by the few people that where in there, I had to hurry. I focused on 2 villains, one of them was a one-pointer and the other one was a two-pointe, the distance between them was short so I jumped quickly and stretch my arms to try to destroy them by tearing them apart. After the jump one of them was still standing, I hurried to jump again, but someone destroyed it before me just when I was about to hit it.

"Hey that one was mine!" I yelled without even being able to identify who stole it.

"Sorry, they didn't say anything about not being able to take the villains from others," exclaimed feminine voice. It was the girl who had plugs hanging from her ears. — "Try to hit them more precisely next time" she said while running somewhere else.

That left me with a bitter taste in my mouth and I would like to get revenge, but this is not the time, I have to get points. I continued running seeing that there were no more villains left. After running desperately for a few seconds, I came to a place that looked like a small square where I found a group of robots, it almost looked like they were forming a circle.

"You are all mine!" — I yelled after looking around to see if I was alone.

I made my arms and legs ready for the battle, I changed my agile form to a more muscular one. I approached as fast as I could then I jumped and landed on one of them, destroying it instantly after that that I jumped again aiming to land in middle of the group where I felt I could do more damage and a once there a blow was enough for each of them as long as I hit a vital point, I could feel the metal in my hands while seeing debris coming from the robots flying after every punch, I wasn't holding back on them at all.

Surprisingly the villains fought back, they were a bit slow but still I had to dodge a good number of blows and that took me more time to take care of them, surely they were not made to do much damage. I destroyed one, then another and continued like this until I was done with all of them.

I looked at my hands, I was bleeding, while not excessively, there were some blood drops falling to the ground. I didn't focus much on making my skin more resistant, only on the power to destroy them.

As I recovered my breath and prepared to continue on my way I heard a familiar voice.

"Four minutes remaining!"

What? The time had passed way faster than what I expected. I'm against time run Takumi, run! I continued running around the city only to find remains of robots scattered all over the place, there must be some still remaining. At that same moment a villain appears from a passageway between buildings and without thinking twice I closed our distance and threw and uppercut causing his head to fly away. He was a three-pointer, very well that helps a lot. The problem is that I do not know how many points the others have, I stopped counting a while back because it was distracting me, I have to be among the first 20 at least, I have to be 100% sure that I will pass the test, I can't settle with this, I have to aim for more.

I looked around and saw people in the same situation as mine, desperate to get more points. There is no time to pay attention to them, I have to look for more. I prepared my legs for a high jump, modified my nerve endings and muscles to achieve what I had in mind. I wanted to jump to the roof of one of the buildings next to me and see if I could find some villains from up there. I looked towards my goal that was a building between 25 to 30 floors to my right. I knelt down and focused as much as I could in the strength placed on my legs never taking my eyes off the top of the building, where I was aiming to land.

I made a countdown in my mind. "3 ... 2 ... 1" — I took a deep breath and then —"Come on!" I announced as wanting everyone to see me, although that was not my intention. I could feel how the ground sank a little after making the jump, maybe I left a crack on the floor.

It was going up at a very high speed, but not enough to disorient me from my landing zone. After I passed the twentieth floor I started to lose speed, but that was good since I didn't want too high but before I knew it, I had already exceeded the size of the building. I thought this was higher, I turned around midair and pulled a strong blow facing the sky sky to help me slow down. It worked, I began descending and just where I had planned, I prepared for the landing. My feet felt the ground, but the fall was stronger than I thought as soon as I touched the floor I lost my balance and I forced myself to put both hands on the floor, so I wouldn't hit my face with the ground. Aside from that and a weird stomach pain I had the landing was a success.

 _"I have to practice those landings"_

I was almost in the center of the city, so I could go with ease to any part of the city next to me by jumping though buildings, although I would prefer not to go far, I have to concentrate in the enemies that are close. I couldn't see any villain, but if I could hear sounds of battles going on somewhere, there were coming from the north and east of where I was standing. The battles to the east seemed closer, I'll go there.

I started jumping from building to building, which was much easier than jumping from the floor to the roof. Just when I was about to arrive I heard a loud sound and made the floor shake, I guess it was stronger for me because I was in the roof to those below me, but still it was very strong, what kind of quirk can make that and why didn't I feel it before? Or maybe whoever caused that went over the limit. Those thoughts changed quickly when the floor began to rumble constantly, not as strong and loud as the first time, but now they seemed like footsteps. This is definitively not a quirk, it must be something else. And my doubt was answered right away as I saw the cause of it. The fourth faux villain. It was huge, much bigger than every other type of villain, he was even taller than the building I was standing on, it was far, but I could still notice how everyone fled from it. Of course, that villain is not worth any points at all, it is a threat not worth facing, even If I wanted to I couldn't think of any way of defeating that thing.

It was coming towards my direction, but it was still a few blocks away from me, whatever action I am about to take I should decide it now. Do I keep looking for more villains or start running away from that thing? "Fuck it, I'll do both, I don't have time to waste"

"Less than 2 minutes remaining!" It was heard throughout the city.

Now I'm at a crossroad. I looked everywhere trying to find some remaining villain I could defeat, but I saw nothing only the huge one that was approaching. "I might be fucked if I don't do something quick" — Then I asked myself, what if it was a lie that the fourth faux villain is not worth any points. It's true that they said that it was only an obstacle to avoid, but look at its size, it has to be worth some type of points, at this point there not much I can do. I convinced myself to try something, but it was a fact that I could not stop it with conventional attacks, I must do something different. I still have some time before he gets here, I decided on a crazy plan, but it was still la plan nonetheless.

I jumped down from the roof of the building I was standing, this time having a better landing. As soon as I touched the ground I took a better looked at the robot, the robot looked bigger from the ground and he was colliding with all the structures that were close to it destroying them partially when passing next to them, but none of them fell completely, I do not know how much damage I can do to it, but maybe one of those building might do the trick. I enhanced both arms to make them more muscular, the grew in size and I lost speed but that was exactly what I was going for. I began to destroy the exterior columns of the building where I used to be, only the ones facing the street. Since the robot was gonna come this way, he is bound to clash with the building and by making it weak it should fall easily on it, that was more or less my plan, I am not an expert on architecture or engineering so there a chance that all of my effort won't pay off. I destroyed all of the columns as fast as I could, time was not on my side, I needed to hurry.

"Less than a minute remaining!" — Present Mic yelled and this time he did it with a more excited voice tone, as if waiting for something to happen.

The robot was about to reach the building where I left a trap for him, my arms were beginning to get really heavy and the skin color turning darker, good thing I managed to finish on time but this is my limit I don't have anything else under my sleeve in case this doesn't work. I wonder if this going to be enough? It had to be. 

Well, I don't wanna be here for when it happens. "I am out of here"— I said to myself while starting to run in the opposite direction.

I went to where the other participants were running, I was the closest one to the villain, so I had to speed up a little. If my plan worked as expected, then I had to make as much distance as possible between me and the robot or the mountain of rubbles might get to me.

While I was running, I heard a loud sound, different from that of the robot footsteps, so I looked back and I could see how the whole building fell on top of it. It was a splendid sight, sadly it didn't last, because even though the villain received a such a tremendous blow or what it look like one, it was not enough to stop him for more than a couple of seconds. The small smile that had appeared on my face disappeared and me and the other participants who also stopped to look back started fleeing again. _"Shit how tough is that thing supposed to be!?"_

"Time is up everybody!" and as soon as we heard that, the robot stopped automatically.

Everyone that was fleeing from the robot, myself included, took some seconds to look at it. I already mentioned but his size was really impressive, how can they even afford this?

After that I was just too tired to continue standing so decided to sit down for a few minutes, I sat on the floor with my legs stretched out my sight set on the sky, I don't know how good my score is, but I don't feel bad about it, I did everything I could and I had it within my reach, if that was not enough to pass the exam then those who pass must be awesome people, my regards to them. Still I have hope that I'll get a possible result.

"It seems that not even throwing a building on it is enough to stop it, U.A sure makes them tough." Exclaimed a boy. "But why did he try to destroy it? that villain was not worth a single point" another one asks. "I do not know, maybe he saw something that we missed, I doubt it matters, I got a good amount of points and I feel confident" he replies.

" _Yo guys, you do realize I am sitting a few feet away from you, right?_ Well, they can say whatever they want, at least I tried something unlike you guys who were just running from it.

I got up after a few minutes and went to the exit of the test location, it was the same door we used to enter. There we found a teacher who told us that those who had any kind of lesser or serious injury should pay a visit Recovery Girl.I did have some minor injuries even if that was my fault, so I guess I'll pay her a visit.

I went to the changing rooms where I changed back to my school uniform and then went for the exit, on the way there me that they will send us a letter with the results of our written test as well as the practical test. While leaving U.A I got to see some students who looked worried, confident, some even laughed as if nothing had happened, they must be very confident of their abilities and that only makes me doubt more about myself, even though I believed that I did well, but something that we all shared was the talk about the fourth faux villain who appeared in the final minutes of the test. From what little I heard is that in most situations they all fled the villain, others tried to fight it with no success at all, but there was only one case about a boy who managed to destroy the villain with a single punch but ended up damaging himself badly in the process. If what I heard was true, then that guy is seriously impressive but with such drawback I am not sure how that quirk is proper for a hero.

It had been an exhausting day, both mentally and physically. On my way to the train station I thought about everything I could have done better and I gotta admit it was such a letdown but at the same time I was comforted thinking about everything I had done well, especially the fact that not was able to destroy as many robots as I did, although I didn't ask myself about that, I just listen to other people's conversations gave me more confidence about my results, I still hope that the fourth faux villain was worth something even if I didn't manage to destroy it.

Once I arrived at the hotel where I was staying, I took a shower and packed my things before going to bed. My flight back was tomorrow afternoon, I still have classes to attend at my school and I can't wait to tell my family and friends how my exam went, I know some of my friends and classmates are also planning to go to other academies to heroes, but noone is aiming for U.A.

Whatever the results, I will accept them, I know that the risk of failing is not impossible, but I feel confident enough to tell my family and friends that I will succeed. In the end only, time will tell


	2. Chapter 2

It has been almost a week since I returned home, I must admit that it is difficult to continue my daily routine while waiting for such important news. They said that they would send a letter with the answer, although I would have preferred an email, but I suppose U.A has their own way of doing things, not that it bothers me, but nerves are killing me.

Back at school, my classmates asked a bunch of questions about the exam, what was it about, was the competition hard, how were the "villains" like and so many others. I usually don't get to be the center of attention, so I'll take advantage of the situation and enjoy my temporal popularity. But after a few days the questions started to get really annoying, it wasn't only my classmates asking at this point, but also people from other classes and underclassmen as well. I guess being popular is not so funny after all.

The wait lasted a little more than a week until one day when I got home after my club activities, I found all my family in the living room, seated on the sofa and in front of them was a table that had a letter on it. My mother, when she saw me coming in, slowly got up, took the letter and gave it to me, I could see that it was sealed with a red stamp, and it was from U.A. My heart went from 0 to 100 in the blink of an eye — _"Oh shit oh shit oh shit, it's here"_ — I could barely move my hands to receive it. I stared at the letter for a few seconds, and then I stared at my mom and the rest of my family behind her, that included my father and my 2 younger sisters. They emitted an aura of seriousness especially my father, but at the same time curiosity, impatience and concern, I am probably like them but worst.

I can't open the letter with them in front of me, it's not that I do not appreciate their concern, but if the result turns out to be a negative one, I don't them to see how I react, I don't even want to picture that in my head.

"I'll open it in my room, don't worry" — It probably didn't help to say that, they are going to worry about it anyway.

"Son, whatever the result, you know we will always support you" — said my mom. It was not very encouraging the fact U.A only accepts 1 out of every 300 applicants, I guess she is prepared for the worst.

"Thank you, mom" — I replied with a smile and immediately went up the stairs making way to my room quickly.

Okay Takumi, this is the moment of truth, this will determine the next 3 years and everything that follows.

I sat down in front of my desk and left the letter on top, I stared at it for a few seconds, until I got the courage to open it. At first glance it seemed easy to open, but it was well sealed. _"Fuck it I'll just use scissors for it"._ I don't to accidentally tear the letter apart.

I couldn't find scissors in my room and I just couldn't get out of my room till I had that letter opened. I continued with the initial idea of using my bare hands, only this time, applying a little more force.

When trying to open it from one side, I unintentionally applied a too much force and split the letter in two, and its contents fell to the ground.

 _"_ _What was that? Where did it fall?"_

I knelt down, it was under my chair. I was a circular and flat object, not bigger than the palm of my hand. I picked it up and left it on top of my desk, but as soon as I did that something happened. A faint light came out of it, like some sort of flashlight. _"What is this, a consolation prize?"_

The small light started to grow and turned into some kind of hologram, which was as flat as a screen and from it I heard a very familiar voice "Hello there, can you hear me? Is the camera on already?"

"ALL MIGHT!?" — What is going on here? Why is All Might there? Is he talking to me? I was baffled, I didn't know how to react. In the hologram you could see All Might dressed in an elegant suit, and he seemed to be speaking to me.

"Calm down young Nakahara, there is a reason for my appearance in this recording since from now on I will be teaching in U.A I felt that it that was the right thing for me to deliver the exam results"

Wait, is All Might gonna teach in U.A? But why is he telling me this…? Wait, does this mean that I-

"It is exactly what you are thinking young Nakahara, you passed the practical exam and while I must say your written test was not the best, it was good enough to pass"

I couldn't believe it, it was just so much to take in even if that was the result I was looking for it still was a lot to take in. I stood there frozen with my mouth wide open, not sure if smiling but I was definitely happy, so happy I couldn't even express it.

"I have to admit it, your performance in the practical exam was impressive, you even wanted to stop the advance of the fourth faux villain, although without success, it is an act worthy of any hero, among the professors we didn't know exactly what motivated you to do that, you may not have realized it but there were points for saving others but not a single student was at risk when you tried to stopped it so obviously we gave you no points, but worry not, all the villains you defeated were enough to make you pass, feel proud of yourself young man"

Tears of joy started to appear coming down my cheeks.

"We can see you tried your best in this admission process, I hope you put the same effort for the challenges coming ahead. Congratulations Nakahara Takumi! U.A is your next stop! "

"Yeeeeesss!" — I screamed with tears of happiness in my face. At that same time the door of my room opened, and both my mother and sisters come running at me to hug me, my mother was crying as well, the heard my yelling so must have figured out the answer by themselves. my dad kept the composure and came walking to me with a smile on his face and gave me a pat on the head — "Good job son I knew you could make it, your brother would be so proud of you". Yeah, I am sure he would be hugging me too, he is that kind of person, gets emotional way too easy, that's how I remember him at least.

The next day I was planning on telling my closest friends about the good news, hoping that it wouldn't spread through the school so quickly and avoid an uproar, unfortunately I wasn't counting with the teacher's congratulation before the start of classes, apparently the school got notified by U.A itself. Although I was not the first student of that school to get into U.A, the first one got in several years ago, only senior teachers still remember her. The level of attention got even worse than what it used to be. I will have to bear with it till the end, there is only a few months left before the school years ends. Only a few months before I start my classes in U.A.

* * *

Time passed faster than what I expected, and before I could realize it, it was already April and a few days before starting classes. If I am completely honest, I 'm about to die of excitement, if the entrance exam was in a "certain way", impressive, how will be the day to day be in U.A? Maybe I'm just overthinking it, I don't know.

But first things first, I have to finish moving, as U.A is in Tokyo, I had to leave my house and rent a place to stay while studying here. Luckily, I was able find an apartment not too far from the train station, it is also worth mentioning that it is not very spacious, but I don't need much space since I couldn't bring my room's furniture anyway. I only brought things I considered important, like my laptop, clothes and some books that help me train my quirk.

In the following days before starting classes, I ordered my apartment to my liking, and took a tour of the surroundings, I wanted to get to know the place so don't get lost in the future, the nearest convenience store is 2 blocks away. I also tried to cook for the first time, to say that it was bad would be cutting it short, not even the cooking book I brought was of any help, I need more practice at this. Even is the food turns out to be total garbage, I can't waste any of it, my monthly allowance is not that big after paying the rent.

While organizing my clothing I found my U.A uniform, I wasn't planning on trying it on yet, but why not, it's not like I have much to do anyway. I put in on, I fit me like a glove. "Hmm charming" — I said while looking myself in the mirror. I have yet to get the gym clothes, I was told they were gonna give us those at school.

My days before school started, unlike before, they felt like an eternity, so I just focused on training my quirk and finishing some books which I had brought from home. I didn't have any friends or family in Tokyo, so you could say I am completely alone. I am not complaining about being more independent but being alone is different, hopefully I'll make friends with my classmates. Maybe get a girlfriend..., no that would be a distraction, right? I never had a girlfriend before, this is something I am not familiar with, I shouldn't be thinking about this, If it happens it happens, I'll leave it there _"No more thoughts about it brain, you hear me?"_

Each day that goes by, makes my stress grows each time a little more, is not that I am worried about it, just too excited and is getting to a point where I can't even sleep properly. I feel like a grade schooler one day before a school trip. _"I need to do something to clear my mind"_

Interestingly, the apartment where I am living is not far from shopping center. It's small compared to the normal ones, and has few known shops, and a lot of local ones. I find local shops interesting, I guess taking a look won't hurt it might even distract my mind for good. Maybe I can find one of those hipster's cafés that are so popular nowadays.

I decided I'll give it a go, I dressed casually, got my cellphone and headphones and left the house. It was only 6 blocks away, not much walking to do. After arriving and having check out couple of shops, most of them being selling clothing, I saw one that caught my eye. It was some sort of music shop, though a little small compared to the other ones, its decoration gave me the idea that they specialized in rock and its subgenres. Whatever it may be, the fact that it's a music shop was enough to make me want to check it out.

As soon as I entered I confirmed my suspicions, the shop sells only rock related products, mostly albums for what I can see. There were only about 3 people, not counting the receptionist, in the shop. There were two rows of shelfs in the middle where they had the albums displayed. When checking them I realized that most of them were bands I didn't know about. _"Maybe this is one of those places where they sell underground music"_ — I thought. It also seems that they sell instruments, they have a few guitars hanging in the walls and also behind the counter. They were also posters hanging from the ceiling and guitar picks being displayed inside the glass counter next to the receptionist. The more time I spend there, the smaller details I could see.

While I was inspecting one of the shelfs, one of the customers in the store who just bought something passed behind me, going to the exit I suppose, I realized that she was a girl when I entered the store, but apart from that I didn't pay much attention to her, but It was at that time when she passed behind that I saw her face and remember to have seen it before. I turned slowly and so did she. We stayed like 5 seconds stupefied watching each face.

It was getting awkward, so I broke the silence "I think I have seen you before…" then I remembered — "Yes, you were the girl that stole one of the robots from me during the practical exam"

"Ohh Well that explains why your face seemed familiar, sorry about that" — she apologized in a carefree tone

"Don't mind it, you were right after all…" — After saying that I ran out of things to say, not wanting to make it weird and tried to continue the conversation with whatever came to mind.

"So… How was your exam" — Soon after asking that I realized my mistake — _"Shit I shouldn't have asked that, the chances of getting into U.A are very fucking low, now I've done it, she is gonna get sad and think I am making fun of her, fuck my life"_

The question caught her off guard, but she answered right away — "Oh yeah about that… well I got in" — said with a faint smile.

"Wait really? Wow congratulations, then I guess… I'll be seeing you there then hehe"

"Oh! So you got in too? And here I was starting to think you failed"

"Wait why did you think that"

"Well the chances of getting into U.A are really low you should know that, so I was just assuming the most probable outcome"

"Well, I can't blame you for that, I though the same after all… Oh yeah, my name is Nakahara Takumi, nice to meet you" — this is probably the best moment for introductions.

"Kyoka Jirou, same here, nice to meet you" — after saying that she glanced her watch "Look at the time it's 6 already, I am sorry Nakahara, but I have things to do, I'll be seeing you at school" — having said that, she went straight for the shop's door — "See you tomorrow" — She waved her hand at me and left

"Yeah, I'll be seeing later" — I answered back., she probably didn't hear me.

That conversation came out of the blue, but at least I won't be going to school without "knowing" someone. Well since am here I decided to buy an album that I liked based on the cover since I knew absolutely nothing about the band. After that, I decided to tour the area a bit more before returning home.

On my way home, as I had nothing to distract my mind with, I started thinking about random things. Among my various thoughts that girl, came up. If I'm completely honest, she was pretty, more than the average girl but extremely pretty just slightly above average, although I don't think she is my type, I barely know her, so I can't really tell, but she seemed to be a cool person to hang out with, she is going to U.A after all. People aiming to be heroes should have a friendly personality, that just makes sense, since we're going to be in contact with citizens most of the time, keeping an approachable attitude is important. Anyway, it's good to have at least one acquaintance before starting classes, even if I only know her name, it's better than nothing.

After arriving to my apartment, I threw the bag I had with the few things I bought in my room. They were, apart from the album, a book I found interesting and a pair of shoes for running because the ones I have are too worn out.

I turn on my laptop to catch up on the latest news and chat with my middle school friends, the usual. I would prefer to go to sleep, I want it to be tomorrow already, sadly I can't sleep unless I'm tired, that and it's only 7 pm, nobody goes to sleep so early. I stayed there only for a few minutes because I almost forgot I had to make dinner for myself, my growling stomach reminded me that.

A horrible dinner and 4 hours of procrastination later I could feel the fatigue in my eyes. I promised myself to stop wasting my time on the laptop once the classes started and technically they have not yet started, this is an exception anyway, it is totally justified. I brushed my teeth, put on my pajamas and before turning off the lights, I checked that I had everything ready for tomorrow. Now it only remains to get some good hours of sleep. I went to sleep, wishing the next day to arrive in the blink of an eye.

* * *

The alarm rang early in the morning with the same tone I use to have when I was in middle school. I didn't think it twice, I got out of bed, washed my face and went for some breakfast.

I decided to stick to a simple breakfast this morning, I don't want to get creative and have a stomachache in school, at least not the first day.

My whole routine took me more or less 45 minutes, after that I was already out and on my way to the station. On the way there I wondered if I would meet Kyoka there, she might live nearby since I saw her yesterday on the nearby shopping center, even so there are a lot of people taking the subway, so I might not even see her. I'll see her at school anyway.

The trip was short, between 15 to 20 minutes till nearest station to the school. It still was a few blocks away and on top of a hill, it will get annoying to do the same routine every morning for the next 3 years, hopefully I'll get used to it.

When I get to the school's entrance I get the not-so-shocking surprise that I am slightly early, there were only a few students around.

"Well in this letter it says that I was assigned to class A-1" — That is easier said than done, this place is huge, where do I even start? There must be a map here somewhere.

I know that the school has 10 classes per year, although only 2 of them are from the department of heroes. That would explain of why this school is so big. Since I don't have a map at hand I decided to ask for directions instead of risking myself to get lost somewhere around the campus. I saw a student who seem to be an upperclassman, so I decided to ask him.

"Excuse me" — I said slightly nervous to the boy who had a bright orange hair. I wonder what department he is part of.

He didn't take long to look my way — "Yes?"

"Sorry to bother, but do you know where the classrooms of the department of heroes are located?" – asked trying to look as serious as possible, I believe that will give a good first impression.

"Ahh you must be freshman, I remember I was kinda lost here in my first day, that sure brings back some memories " — he said letting go a small laugh at the end. —"It's common to see at least one or two students lost in the first day, well back to you question, the hero department classrooms are in the west side of the main building second floor, you should not have problems finding them once you are there, both 1-A and 1-B are close.

"Thanks for the help, ermm..."

" Name is Minoru Shinohara" — he responded —"I will be watching your progress, you first years from the hero department are always fun to watch, your quirks are always a challenge to deal with " - he said as he was turned around and walked away.

 _"Well, there sure are very "interesting" people in this school, and what did he meant by our quirks being a challenge, is he some kind of tutor?" —_ And I forgot to tell him my name, he didn't even wait for me to tell him. I could chase him down and tell him? Maybe no, that would look so awkward, next time I see him I'll introduce myself properly.

Well, better keep going I'll be early but I still prefer to be there rather than hanging around the school, all do that later.

I followed the instructions he gave me, I went to the second floor and turned left, at first, I thought I fucked up somewhere because I stumbled with the Class 1-E, but I kept going till I got to Class 1-A. They really thought about everything when building this place, the door for the class is huge, not sure if it's only a cosmetic thing or there are students this tall. I guess they have had all kinds of students. I took a deep breath and opened the door. — "Here we go"

I was among the first to arrive, not counting me there were only 5 people in there. Among them I could differentiate a glasses guy, who was slightly familiar, I'm sure I've seen him somewhere but before I could recall it he stood up and approached rather quickly.

"Ah another classmate has arrived! Let me introduce myself, I am from Somei Academy, my name is Iida Tenya, It-s nice to meet another classmate "- he said as if he had memorized it, I was not prepared for such a sudden introduction.

"N-Nice to meet you too Iida, I'm Nakahara Takumi" — I answered back — "It's good to see I am no the only one who arrived this early "

"Well I though it was the right thing to do and give a good impression of myself with my classmates, you did too, right?"

"S-Sure" — not really, I only was too excited about it. "I'll go take a seat if you don't mind" — he just nodded to my answer.

I went to my desk, it was almost in the middle of the class. Normally the homeroom teacher is the one the decides that but, in this case, it didn't seem to work like that.

I took the freedom of inspecting the few students in the classroom, for starters Kyoka was not here, maybe she got assigned to 1-B or she hasn't arrived yet. Not counting Iida, there were 4 of them, one of them was a plain looking guy with blonde hair, had a giant tail and was sitting on one of the front desks, there was another guy who was sitting quietly and bird-shaped head which was probably related to his quirk, behind him there was a boy who had half his hair white and the other half dark red and finally a beautiful girl with a tall curvaceous figure with her hair tied into a spiky ponytail.

While waiting for everyone to arrive I started reading the book I bought in the shopping centre which I hadn't read at all. While I was reading the rest of the students started to show up, I took my eyes from the book every so often to see their faces, I greeted those who sat next to me, nothing but a short greeting, I will get to know them better later on. I continued reading until I felt someone standing next to me.

"It seems we are in the same class too, what a coincidence" — said a familiar voice

"Hey Kyoka, nice to see you again, finally a familiar face" — even if I don't know more than her name

"Well it's not like we actually know each other anyway, but I understand what you mean, did you get here early?" — She asked

"Yeah, I've been here for a while now, I was just too excited, so I ended up doing everything ahead of time, not a common thing for me to do"

"The kind of thing a middle school student would do before a school trip" — she said before letting go a small giggle

That comment got me a little embarrassed — "Yeah I know, I thought the same thing"

"Don't sweat it, I'm sure everyone it's excited for this first of school in way one or another"

After hearing that, I asked with a raised eyebrow "Even you?" — "Yes, even me, but in more… "mature" way" — she answered with a smug face.

I was about to reply with an awesome comeback, but I got interrupted by Iida raising his voice to guy who had his foot on top of the desk, and it didn't stop there, the guy was getting cocky and answered back, things seemed to be heating up until some green haired guy opened the door and Iida rushed to introduce himself, again.

"Wow, some people are starting off with the wrong foot, Kyoka don't you-" I turned my head to realize that Kyoka had already gone to take a seat and was talking to the good looking girl I saw earlier.

I tried to focus back into the book I was reading till I hear a voice that came from the front of the classroom.

"It took eight seconds for you to quiet down. Time is a precious resource. You lot aren't very rational, are you?" — said a tall, slender guy with messy black hair and half-opened eyes.

 _"_ _Who is this guy, is he our- "_

"I am your homeroom teacher, Aizawa Shota. Please to meet you" — _"Shit, he really is our homeroom teacher"_ and I wasn't the only one surprised, half the class was in the same boat as me on that one.

"Now, change into your gym clothes and head out to the field, I've got something for you" — said as he handed out our gym clothes.

After changing in to our gym clothes we went to the training field, behind the main building. When we got there Aizawa told us what this was about, a quirk assessment test.

"U.A is known for it's freestyle educational system. That applies to teachers as well" he said

"In middle school you did a wide variety of physical tests, your standard no-quirks-allowed gym tests" — Yeah, I remember those, my scores on those weren't high, barely above average, I had a hard time taking it seriously.

Aizawa continued talking — "This country still insists on prohibiting quirks when calculating the averages of those records. It's nor rational"

He called one of the students — "Bakugou, how far could you throw in middle school?"

"Sixty-seven meters" —answered the spiky-haired boy. I think he was the guy Iida was discussing with, I'm not sure since I wasn't paying much attention.

"Great, now try it with your quirk" — said Aizawa while giving him a softball ball "Do whatever you need to, just don't leave the circle"

One of the students mentioned that he placed first in the U.A practical exam, maybe that's why Aizawa choose him first — "What kinda of quirk does he has?"

After positioning himself, Bakugou threw the ball along with a very peculiar battle cry - "Die!"

He literally threw the ball with a blast and making the dust rise from the ground. My eyes kept following the ball till it hit the ground — "That's some incredible firepower" — my impression only grew when Aizawa showed us in some sort of device how far the ball went, 705.2 meters

Now everyone was impressed, not only by the distance the ball traveled, but also because we are getting permission to use our quirks in physical tests where we were not allowed to use them before.

"What's this? It looks fun" said pink-skinned girl

"We can use our quirks as much as we like! As expected from the hero course!" said one guy

"It's look fun, huh?" said Aizawa while we were celebrating "You have three years to become heroes, will you have that attitude the whole time?" — A creepy smile appeared on his face "All right then, whoever places last in all eight tests will be judged to have no potential and will be punished with expulsion"

"Huh!" exclaimed almost the whole class in surprise.

Our smiles disappeared from our faces. Some seemed to be terrified and others were asking aloud if it was true but seeing how serious he looked and the way he announced it, I doubted it was a lie. Still, I'm not worried about a test like this, since my quirk is perfect for this kind of situation, having said that, I wasn't expecting such a thing on the first day of school. _"That's U.A for you, always going over the top"_

"We are free to do what we want about the circumstances of our students." Said while moving aside the hair that was covering his face, showing us a smile from ear to ear "Welcome to U.A's hero course!"

* * *

 **Well I gotta admit, this took longer than what I expected. Translating the whole chapter and also changing some things on the way, seemed easier said than done. I wasn't planning in making the chapter this big, but it just happened. So yeah this is pretty much what I came up with, Takumi passing the test was a given, but I also wanted some character interaction so I did the shopping center thing plus introducing a secondary OC which will have a more relevant role further in the story. Coming up with dialogues with the original characters was harder than what I expected, I had to rewrite a lot of those.  
Anyway I don't know for sure how long it will take for me to have the next chapter ready, It won't be more than 2 weeks since I already have the chapter figured out, I only need to write it down.**

 **Thanks for your support guys. Plus Ultra!**


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